The nest was blown from side to side this evening in high winds. It looks like this new one is built very well. The hawks didn’t seem to mind the wind too much with the mother doing a feeding while the nest rocked back and forth!
The eyasses are getting easier to see. I was able to see them from a number of angles today and saw them every twenty minutes or so.
While the two eyasses aren’t yet easy to photograph, due to the foliage around the nest, they are getting easier to see during feedings (about every hour and a half). They can hold their heads up and compete for food while being feed. They should be very visible by next weekend.
A second eyass was visible today at the Riverside nest. (Eyasses don’t hatch all at the same time, so it’s common during the first few days for observers of a nest to see one, then two and hopefully three eyasses, after seeing just one initially.)
The winds were high along the river, so the video is a bit jumpy. Despite the poor quality of the video, it was great to see two healthy and hungry eyasses.
It’s still really hard to get a glimpse of an eyass at Riverside. Expect to spend an hour or two to get just a brief look. The number of eyasses is also still unclear.
This pair has had such a difficult time with only one youngster having made it out of nine in the last three years makes this new nest extra special. For those unfamiliar with the story, in 2008 three eyasses died due to secondary rat poisoning, in 2009 two out of three fledglings died after being hit by cars, and earlier this year three eyasses were killed when the nest collapsed in strong winds.
So this second clutch brings with it new hopes for this pair of hawks.
My last images of a Riverside youngster may have been difficult to make out. Luckily, today one of the eyasses was a little more cooperative. Hopefully, we’ll have a better idea how many eyasses there are after a few more days.
The wait is finally over. Today, I got to see glimpses of a newborn eyass at the Riverside nest. After all the mixed signals over the hatch date, and the extreme heat, it’s great to see finally see a youngster.
The video shows three slow motion glimpses of the eyass through gaps in the nest, and then a visit by the father who takes out some trash. Watching the video in full screen mode will help.